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Thanks gentlemen (and ladies?) for the information. The consensus appears to be that the claims about the alleged use of D.U. and W.P. rounds in Fallujah being the likely cause of foetal abnormalities are probably without merit. I draw two likely conclusions feom this thread:

Keep in mind most of these census have a problem of overlooking the most obvious of all details, Standards of Living!
This kind of study is parallel to that of cancer from cellphone towers, cancer from powerlines, as those who live near those locations typically have a lower standards of living than those who don't, and may in fact directly have a far greater impact on cancer rates than actual exposure.

Im not saying DU is good for you or anything, it probably will kill you if you decide to suck on a DU penetrator, but in normal exposure? I'd think the effect on soldiers sitting around the DU round would be a Strong indicator! And since I don't see 10% of the US Tank crewmen getting cancer, thankfully, Its pretty safe to say that exposure to small fragments is neglectable.

Thanks gentlemen (and ladies?) for the information. The consensus appears to be that the claims about the alleged use of D.U. and W.P. rounds in Fallujah being the likely cause of foetal abnormalities are probably without merit. I draw two likely conclusions feom this thread:

The next bogeymen are going to be DIME based weapons and thermobaric devices. For some reason DIME weapons use tungsten which is highly suspected of beign toxic. Menawhile a thermobaric device not only burns, but any incomplete burn would leave a chemical residue to soak into the soil.

The next bogeymen are going to be DIME based weapons and thermobaric devices. For some reason DIME weapons use tungsten which is highly suspected of beign toxic. Menawhile a thermobaric device not only burns, but any incomplete burn would leave a chemical residue to soak into the soil.

Oh noes! Lets ban lead based bullets too!
Then ban Copper jackets because they could pierce bare foot if stepped on!
Hell, ban all weapons, and potential weapons that could cause harm :(

Seriously, war is war, life either sucks or rocks, can't have rock on both sides!

I could be way off on this, but I believe that there is a concerted effort to replace DU rounds with tungsten.

Of course I have no idea if DU rounds still exist in the US arsenal, but I'm fairly certain that they do.

We do still stock a fairly large inventory of DU rounds, mostly for the M829-series of APFSDS rounds used in the M1. However, as has been pointed out, it is a fairly useless round in an urban environment; all you would end up doing is putting 24mm holes through 10 or 12 houses. The latest 829 rounds are specifically designed to defeat modern ERA. However, in an urban environment, only the M830 & M1028 really make any sense.

"There is never enough time to do or say all the things that we would wish. The thing is to try to do as much as you can in the time that you have. Remember Scrooge, time is short, and suddenly, you're not there any more." -Ghost of Christmas Present, Scrooge

It is happening as we speak. While I can see the point of banning indiscriminate and needlessly cruel weapons, there are very few conventional weapons that I can think of actually meets that standard. The international community is trying to solve an ROE issue by taking away the equipment. Wait for the day they need it again, and those treatises go out of the window.

All those who are merciful with the cruel will come to be cruel to the merciful.
-Talmud Kohelet Rabbah, 7:16.

I remember calling in WP rounds in this specific battle. The insurgents had dug in positions that we weren't able to kill via HE/PD or VT fuzes. So we used WP in conjunction with HE to burn them out of their holes and when they tried to escape, they would be cut to pieces by the HE.

I don't remember our load outs in the BFVs having any AP/sabot ammo. As far as I remember it was almost exclusively HE for the 25mm gun. I would imagine if there is a rise in birth defects it is because the city was left in shambles and people were literally walking through sewage just a few steps outside their homes. Or the fact that there was trash EVERYWHERE. I'm no doctor. But I think it would be a safe bet to think the deplorable sanitation problems that city was left with after we took it back might have something to do with any birth defects.